Treasure
by The Dark Knight's Revenge
Summary: The trio goes digging in the Room of Requirement and end up finding the greatest treasure of all time.


Harry scavenged through the piles of things in the room of requirement. It was a sunday afternoon, and he was bored beyond all reason. Ron and Hermione had gone to the library that morning to finish homework, leaving him up to his own devices for the day. So, he decided to go treasure hunting.

"Ouch!" He cried as a Cornish Pixie sank its teeth into his hand when he reached into a corner he shouldn't have. The little pixie giggled, scampering away.

"Bloody Lockhart" Harry cursed. He jammed his stinging hand into his pocket and continued on through the piles. There were stacks of old chairs, cabinets of broomsticks, potions bottles, old trophies, even a mummified arm that looked like it belonged to the same troll who's leg ended up at Grimmauld Place.

Harry tripped on a stray desk drawer, flying headlong into a large mountain of book.

"One-hundred recipes for carnivorous fish?" Harry asked himself, rubbing the spot where it fell on his head. "Bet that was bloody useful..." While he was there, Harry decided to sort through some of the old books.

"One hundred ways to become a dark lord? They really shouldn't leave this lying around..." Harry said, setting it on top of a nearby wardrobe. A pixie landed on the book and started sniffing it eagerly.

"Have at it" He said to the pixie. The little creature gave a squeal of delight, diving for the book. Harry became covered in an explosion of paper scraps.

"Hula dances with Hungarian Hags? Who the bloody hell wrote-Oh... Lockhart, should have known..."

The pile proved to be quite interesting... In addition to several collections of Lockhart's books, Harry found a hymnal that shrieked its passages in rather badly accented italian opera, and a romance novel that crooned ballads when stroked the right way. Several odd titles went to the pixies.

"Enough of that..." Harry said as he wiped bits of paper off his sweater for the fifth time. He moved off towards a stack of odd shiny objects, ignoring the pixie's protests.

"Harry, mate, you in here?" Ron's voice came from the direction of the door.

"Yeah, i'm over here" He replied, picking up a shiny ornament from the pile. It was similar to the bunch that sat in Dumbledore's office, but this one looked very broken. Perhaps this was what happened to things that angry students destroyed in Dumbledore's office.

"Bloody Pixies, you would think they'd have died out by now!" Ron yelled.

"Ron! Banging it against a cabinet will NOT help you!" Hermione said bossily. Harry grinned.

Hermione and Ron appeared around the mountain of books, both stopping to look at the titles.

"Hula dances with Hungarian Hags? Who the bloody hell wrote- Oh, that makes sense" Ron said, tossed the book away with a snort of disgust. Harry chuckled.

"You two done already?" Harry asked, picking up some more silver ornaments.

"I was speedy" Ron replied.

"If, by speedy, you mean that you wrote in as big a print as you could manage, then yes"

"Whatever" Ron said, taking a seat in a nearby armchair. Hermione tsked and went back to the books.

"This room is amazing, Harry" Hermione said after a moment, completely engrossed in a copy of 'study of studious muggles'.

"Agre- OUCH!" Ron yelled, jumping up from the armchair. A rather squashed Cornish Pixie teetered off the armchair cushion where Ron had accidentally sat on it. The redhead glared, rubbing his backside.

"I wonder what they eat?" Hermione asked, setting down her book and going to peer in a used cauldron that was wedged between some shelves.

"You mean aside from me?" Ron growled.

"There's actually something you don't know?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. Hermione grimaced, moving away from the cauldron with a look of disgust.

"I know what they eat in their normal environment... But I can't imagine what they'd eat in here..." Hermione replied. Ron shrugged, cautiously taking his seat once more in the armchair.

"D'you think you're going to tell your kids about this place?" Ron asked, looking around at the massive piles of junk around them.

"I suppose..." Hermione said, moving around a pile of desks to the single window that looked out on the grounds.

"Can't see why not" Harry said, tossing another silver instrument aside and following Hermione to the window. Ron fell in behind them.

"It's weird... Thinking that someday our kids will be doing t things that we've done..." Hermione said, staring out across the grounds.

"Hopefully without all the mortal peril and such" Ron added.

"Yeah..." Harry said. "Kinda weird to think about us having kids..."

"I hope they take after me..." Hermione said. Harry and Ron snorted. Hermione turned around to glare at them.

"You know i'll get them all cats"

"Don't even joke about that, Hermione..." Ron said, shaking his head. The trio were silent for a few minutes, then Harry broke the silence.

"It's moment like these... Y'know, when you feel like there's hope for the future..." Ron and Hermione turned to look at him. He stayed staring out the window.

"When there aren't people dying or wanting things from you... When you've got friends."

Hermione walked over and wrapped her arms around Harry, Ron coming to embrace them both.

"No matter what, you've still got us, Mate" Ron said. Hermione nodded in agreement. They stayed like that for a moment more, then a bell tolled in the castle.

"There's dinner... We should probably go wash up" Hermione said. The three friends pulled apart, heading for the door.

As they walked, Harry suddenly tripped, luckily landing on the bed of paper scraps the pixies had made.

"Alright, Harry?" Ron asked, turning back. Harry squinted, seeing something glinting in the darkness under a pile of chairs. He reached in and grabbed it, pulling out a rusted metal box.

"What did you find?" Hermione inquired.

"I think it might be treasure..." Harry said, prying open the lock. He opened the box, revealing its contents. Hermione gasped.

Inside were three gold rings, each with a small ruby set in the band.

"Wonder if they fit us?" Harry said aloud. He picked up one and placed it on his finger. It was too big, so he handed it to Ron.

"Fits like a charm" Ron said, holding it up to the light. Harry plucked the other two out of the box, handing the smallest one to Hermione.

"It fits!" She gasped. Harry tried on the last one, grinning as it fit his ring finger perfectly. He set the box aside, standing.

"To friendship" Harry said. "The greatest treasure of all."


End file.
